RFID technology is attracting considerable attention as a complement to or even replacement for other identification methods, such as the use of barcodes. This is because RFID tags have significant range relative to a reading device and allow increased speed and unattended reading advantages. Various retailers and wholesalers now request that their vendors use RFID technology on the products that they supply in the future to allow fully automated, high speed and unattended reading of packages or products in the supply chain.
A typical RFID system includes a tag or label that is embedded with a single chip processor and an antenna. The tag is similar to barcode labels more commonly in use today, but has more capacity and ability to transmit information. These tags may be “read only” or read/write type tags. Read only tags are more like barcodes as the encoded data cannot be changed and is often only a serial number that is used to retrieve additional descriptive data, such as item type, date of manufacture, etc., from a database. Read/write tags function similar to computer disks because they can be rewritten and updated an unlimited number of times, and may offer “locked” sections that may not be altered. The RFID system further includes a radio enabling device that communicates with or interrogates the tag for purposes of reading and writing information from and/or to the chip.
Various types of tags and labels are currently available for use in different environmental conditions. Suppliers using read/write tags may comply with the new requirements of their customers at minimal cost for disruption by writing the new information to their existing pallets. Suppliers using read only tags would have to purchase new tags for each pallet, apply them and remove the old tags to ensure that the old tags would not be read by the retailer or wholesaler. In such situations, the RFID tags may be supplied on wheels or reels having siliconized carriers for the tags. Exchanging the RFID tags in this manner usually involves downtime due to manufacturing line stoppages. Also, disposal of the carriers creates additional cost due, for example, to environmental laws.
One current method of affixing RFID tags onto substrates is to apply pressure sensitive adhesive onto the RFID tag and temporarily bond these tags onto a carrier material which is stored on a reel as mentioned above. In this instance, however, the RFID tags must be highly flexible such that they may be carried on the reel without damage or debonding. Other RFID tags will lose their function when bent and, therefore, must be stacked in magazines before being affixed to a substrate.